A new law introduced in England yesterday makes it easier for couples to have their wedding service in a church where they have a family or special connection.

Previously, couples wishing to marry in a Church had to attend it regularly or live within the Parish.
If they wished to marry in another parish, they required a special licence or six months regular attendance there.

Now couples can marry anywhere they have lived for six months or where their parents or grandparents were married.

The Church of England has introduced a marriage measure law that opens up over 16,000 churches to couples and puts this change down to the increasing mobility of society, with many people moving away from the areas where they grew up.

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In anticipation of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh’s 60th (Diamond) Wedding Anniversary next month, Royal Mail are issuing a series of stamps with images that span the 6 decades of their marriage.

HM The Queen becomes the first reigning Sovereign to celebrate her Diamond Wedding Anniversary and the royal couple will attend a service of celebration at Westminster Abbey on Monday November 19 - the day before their anniversary.

The Diamond Wedding Anniversary stamps are available at post offices throughout the UK or via the Royal Mail website at www.royalmail.com

COUPLES celebrating their Diamond Wedding anniversary in 2007 are invited to a special event at Winchester Cathedral next month. The service will be hosted by the Dean and Chapter of Winchester Cathedral and is open to all couples who were married in 1947 and who live in Hampshire.

Good news from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) this week, when it announced that the divorce rate in England and Wales had fallen to it’s lowest level in 22 years.

Figures show a 7% decrease in break-ups between couples in 2006 compared with the previous year - hitting it’s lowest level since 1984.

Couples who divorce do so on average after 11 and a half years of marriage, statistics reveal. Men and women in their 20’s were most likely to divorce compared with other age groups, but the average age to divorce was 43 for men and 40 for women.

The emotional fallout can be devastating for families and we offer some hints and tips to celebrating your anniversary so that you can take time together to remember how your adventures first began.
Click on the following link for our Anniversary Ideas.

No one is really certain where the list came from. It has most likely evolved from a tradition in medieval Europe when wives were given a silver wreath after 25 years of marriage and a gold wreath after 50.

A version of the current list was first published in 1922 in a book called “Etiquette in Society, in Business, in Politics and at Home” by Emily Post. This only detailed the milestone years, but the 1957 reprint included materials for the first 15 anniversaries and every 5th year after that up to 75.

Since then, various associations have added extra years to the list. There is also a ‘modern’ version which includes items such as clocks, appliances and musical instruments.